[reflexboy]

The latest Nikon equipment (new orders: D3s, D3x, NIKKOR interchangeable lenses)
to be used in the Russian segment of the International Space Station

Nikon Corporation (Michio Kariya, President) is pleased to announce that orders for one Nikon D3S and two Nikon D3X digital-SLR cameras, four interchangeable lenses including AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR, software and various accessories have been received from S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the general contractor of the Russian Federal Space Agency on the program operating the International Space Station(ISS). This equipment will be transported to the ISS via the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 16, 2010.

Without any special improvements or modifications, those products are also available to consumers. This confirms the incredible reliability of the D3S, D3X and NIKKOR lenses. The new equipment will be used along with Nikon SLR cameras, such as the Nikon F5 film-SLR camera and D2X digital-SLR camera and a variety of NIKKOR lenses already used with on-board activities of Russian cosmonauts working in the Russian segment of ISS.

Nikolay Cherlenyak, director of operations for Energia's ISS program, has commented as follows regarding this order, "The integration of Nikon photographic equipment in space exploration has a long history and goes back to the moment when there first arose the question of photographing research conducted in orbit. It was then when the first Nikon film cameras and NIKKOR lenses, notable for precision and reliability, were sent into space. They had been used even on the station "Mir". Since then, the range of photographic equipment has been frequently supplemented by new products and advanced developments of the Nikon Company. Now with the latest models of Nikon D3S and D3X digital cameras, photography in space will reach a new, previously unattainable level."

Nikon has spent many years contributing to the study of space through the development and manufacture of advanced and extremely durable cameras and interchangeable lenses. With total production exceeding 50 million, NIKKOR lenses make the most of Nikon's optical technologies. In 2009, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ordered eleven D3S cameras and seven AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses for use in recording activities aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.